In this article, I’d like to give you a glimpse into how I, as a product design engineer, evaluate products made by other manufacturers.
I’ll walk you through what catches my attention, what I look for, and what’s going through my mind when I examine a product.
The photo above was originally shared by General Manager Fujii in one of his posts.
When I saw it, this is what was going through my mind.
Below is a summary of my thought process at the time.
You can also find the original article below.
Inner Commentary Begins!
motorockmanThe bolt holes for the fork clamp and the handlebar clamp are facing the same direction.
That means both can be accessed from the same tool position.
Nice… that’s excellent serviceability. As expected.
Hmm… the fork clamp uses a single fastener.
That probably means it’s an M8.
Judging by its size, the handlebar clamp is likely M6.
So you’ll have to switch tools during disassembly.
Since both fasteners are accessible from the same position, wouldn’t it make more sense to use two M6 bolts on the fork clamp as well?
Or… is using a single M8 bolt actually faster, even with the tool change?
Wait a second…
During a race, would you ever loosen both the handlebar clamp and the fork clamp at the same time?
If you’re only replacing the handlebar, there’s no need to loosen the fork clamp.
And if you’re replacing the entire assembly, you wouldn’t loosen just the handlebar clamp.
In that case, a single M8 fastener is unquestionably the quickest solution.
I see…
Now it all makes sense.
I’ll stop here for now.
Just from this single photo, that’s the kind of thought process that goes through my mind.
*Please note that these are only my own observations and interpretations. I don’t actually know what the designer’s original intentions were.
Interestingly, if this component eventually goes into production, the points I discussed above are exactly what people refer to as “feedback from racing.”
If this were to become a production product…
My thought process doesn’t stop there.
The next question I ask myself is:
“If I were to turn this into a production product, how would I design it?”
motorockmanThis level of race-focused design is probably unnecessary for anything other than track use.
Then again, if it’s for the CBR, maybe going all-out is exactly the right approach…
Or perhaps a simpler design at a more affordable price would appeal to more riders.
But on the other hand, once the design has already been completed, producing the same specification is certainly the easier option…
Something like that.
Even when looking at a single component, a design engineer doesn’t just see the part itself.
We’re constantly thinking about the story behind it—why it was designed that way, what problems it solves, what compromises were made, and how we might approach it differently.
